Problem is, my motorized K301 sticks out too much so simply slapping on the face of an old radio isnt going to look very convincing and clean. So I am just wondering if anyone has any ideas to make this work, or to make my dash look genuinely trashy (when parked) without actually trashing it.

07-12-2008, 03:19 AM

guizai

take some ABS plastic, make a flat panel and just place it on there. If you cover everything with a square sheet of ABS. It'll just look like you put a blank in there. Anything to cover what you got should work.

07-12-2008, 05:09 AM

greatwhite

Not a lot you can do with the flip out monitors that stand proud of the bezel surface.

I do believe you're stuck with it unless you want to move over to a molded in fixed screen..........

07-12-2008, 07:44 AM

nobb

As much as I want to get a fixed screen, my motorized screen has been working flawlessly so I see no reason to "fix whats not broke". I probably wont be getting a fixed screen until I buy a new car or the screen breaks.

The ABS plastic thing is a good idea. I am thinking a flat piece for the top then mold the headunit of a single DIN radio at the bottom. I dont think I really know how to work with ABS plastic though. So I am thinking to make the fake faceplate, roughly use a wire framed mesh then splatter and mold bondo over that? No experience with bondo either, but it would be a nice learning experience for the future when I do decide to do mold a fixed screen.

07-12-2008, 11:34 AM

molander54

flat abs panel

abs is fairly easy to work with- think of it as textured cardboard. if you use a ca glue (super glue) and an acellerator you can make the panels bond almost instantly. If I were you I'd make up a cardboard or posterboard and masking tape example to test some ideas. I think abs would be way easier to use than mesh and bondo because you are already starting out with a flat panel and won't have to try and flaten out the surface so much.
good luck.

07-13-2008, 05:29 PM

nobb

1 Attachment(s)

Ok I went with the ABS idea since I have a jug of acetone laying around.

I went ahead and make the basic structure with cardboard and the face off an old broken VCR. Making the ABS sludge is the hard part and its taking me along time to make a small amount of it. Mostly because I cant find the right tools to grind up the plastic into smaller pieces. I'm experimenting with LEGO and broken VCR cassettes to make the ABS. In this tutorial, the guy's ABS mixture looks more smooth and consistent than mine.

As you can see from my attached pics, my mixture mostly watery with the melted ABS chunking up, and its not very smooth. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? Its kind of hard to try and slather my faceplate template with this stuff right now because its so chunky..

07-13-2008, 08:09 PM

blackcobra487

What if you used some rough sandpaper on the ABS. You'd have nice small pieces that would dissolve quickly in the acetone. Or maybe something like a cheese grater.

07-13-2008, 08:15 PM

roflcopter

use a small drill bit and drill through. youll make little flakes. or get a hobby knife and drag across the abs. itll make little spring like flakes.

07-13-2008, 09:04 PM

monkeyracer

or, you can get some pre-dissolved stuff. Home depot and lowes sell Oatey ABS Cement. It's made to glue abs pipes together, but it is ABS resin and MEK. So basically the smoothness that you were looking for without all the hassle of cutting up legos, and waiting for the chips to dissolve. Check out my worklog. I used that to make my dash bezel, and there are some techniques discussed there about how to use it.

It turns out that after waiting a while longer, it does indeed turn more goopy. Its about the consistency of bubble gum now.

But this stuff really isnt that easy to work with. It seriously is like trying to mold with bubble gum. I just coated my template piece completely with this stuff and it looks like a big rubbery mess. Im going to let it dry overnight. I hope I will be able to sand it down flat tomorrow. If not, then maybe cover it in bondo and flatten that...